Unlike past seasons, the UNF men’s basketball team has a legitimate possibility of winning the Atlantic Sun conference this year. But the student body is either in a coma or just
doesn’t care.
At 9-9 (3-2 A-Sun), the Ospreys are three games better than they were last year
at this time. Three of the losses came against teams that are or were in the AP Top 25 and were away.
Is a better record for a team that hasn’t been over .500 in years not good enough for you, Ospreys?
Forward Travis Wallace just won his second Newcomer of the Week award, yet fresh talent still doesn’t seem good enough.
Not only is the team better overall this year, it has gotten a lot more protective of its blue-and-white nest. With a 7-1 home record, the team has already given fans three more
home wins than all of last year.
But nobody comes to the home games.
Despite the improvements, the average attendance at home is a meager 1,205,
compared to 6,751 at away games.
Attendance has gone up recently, but there have been games where the only
Osprey support I can hear is a ballsy kid shouting insults too dull to wound a mouse.
Poor attendance can’t even be attributed to a small student body. The Belmont Bruins (11-6, 4-1 A-Sun), home to 5,400 undergraduates and graduates according to the Princeton Review, stuffed 5,227 people into their complex Jan. 6 against Lipscomb (8-9, 3-2 A-Sun). If they can do it, why can’t we?
The Bruins are a really good team and beat the Ospreys 83-53 in their only home
loss, but last year’s A-Sun champions are beatable. The Bruins lost Jan. 6 to Lipscomb
85-74 — a team the Ospreys blew out Jan. 4.
The student body should show support for school sports, win or lose, but it is absolutely
embarrassing to not be able to pack the home stands when our team is actually
winning. At least come to drown out the obnoxious guy whose insults make Adam
Sandler movies seem funny.
The Ospreys were one game away from reaching the NCAA Tournament and have
a pretty good chance of making it this year. If a winning team isn’t enough to compel
someone to come to the games, then I don’t know what is?
Tim Tebow, maybe?
Jordan Harirchi, Assistant Sports Editor
Email Jordan at asst.sports@unfspinnaker.com
